Alex: Sydney is not Brisbane. Marrackville is not The Valley and this is not the Brunswick St Mall. It is however the path leading to Dirty Shirlow's where we played on the Friday Night.
Ian: Heil Spirits ruled. His shit broke but I got a good enough dose beforehand to get hooked. That thing on the table is a spring rigged up to (presumably) a contact mike. When he hits it, it sounds the devil's dinner bell or some machine working in the engine room a ship.
Alex: This is punk, Sydney style. Walora who I thought were great.
Alex: This is controlled chaos, Melbourne style. Aktion Unit!
Ian: Good dudes. And I've met a lot of dudes who don't give a fuck (or pretend not to) but never quite like these guys in this band. They booked a tour (and the Static Age Festival itself), drove all the way from Sydney and organised a bunch of other stuff (inluding us), then at show time they step up and do 10-20 mins of wacked out guitar lava, feedback and 'show-boating' (their term) and say that's that. I loved it.
Alex: When we were playing I knocked my ride cymbal over which made half of the sound disappear. I didn't know what had happened at the time. I was informed later on...
Ian: ...that he had disabled half the band in one cymbal raid. But what are the chances that a falling cymbal stand will exactly hit a guitar lead like this:
Alex: Crux! worth coming to Sydney for.
Ian: Agreed. Amazingly diverse doom punk.
Alex: Who said punk rock was all angsty and angry?
Alex: After the show we all split up, got lost, found each other on a street corner and phoned a friend to find out where the hell we were.
Alex: Once we found the HQ, good times ensued... (note: the grin on everyone's face and the empty bottle of Vodka in the foreground)
Ian: Cake Tin, Brute Force, keep it real. Were we drinking vodka and water? I think we might have been. Sorry edgers.
Alex: Saturday we didn't have a show so I went to Maggotville to see Wolora & Scum System Kill. I wish we had bands (& warehouses) like this in Brisbane!
Ian: Meanwhile I went to Hopetoun and saw The Laurels (because I am an indie-wuss and because they're great) and later I caught Straight Arrows and Repo Man at The Sando. Great night sans seeing the guy from Repressed getting brained with a milkcrate in the pit. That'll teach me for choosing venue punk over warehouse crust.
Alex: Sunday arvo we played Serial Space in Chippendale. Young Lion's opened. Lizzy made really beautiful music (even with an out of tune piano).
Alex: We played. We played well. Playing the last song 'K' however got hard once I'd done this to the tom...
Ian: Oh my god, these dudes are awesome. Cougar Flashy & His Spooky Adventures aka Short Stop and Thin Man aka Grant and Zac. They do this early Sebadoh meets Butthole Surfers type pop music (to my old ears). They're soon to be Brisbane residents for a few months from May 21st (book them yo). One of my favourite memories of this trip was Grant's arguement with a security guard at the Townie: 'How do you feel about letting me use the bathroom? No! How about a bar stool, just a stool, I'll just sit! What! How about a fucking ashtray man, it's just a fucking ashtray!'
Ian: More Aktion Unit. This was the better of the two shows; they slayed at Serial Space. Again it was 10-20 mins of wild improv but totally personable and charming.
Alex: with all commitments over, we got lost again, found again and ended up in a little but great Thai resturant.
Ian: What am I actually doing in this photo? I have no idea. I think I might be growling at that girl's hat.
Alex: Then the 13 strong gaggle headed to FBI where Aktion Unit were getting the late night interviewing treatment.
Ian: After FBi wouldn't let Cougar Flashy and No Anchor crash the scheduled Aktion Unit interview (fair enough too), Grant followed through on his threat to 'draw dicks on everything' (which is also fair I think).
Ian: Oh god. I have only the dimmest memories of this. Things got loose. But don't we all look relaxed and happy to be rock and rollers.
Thanks to Dan (x10), Rene, Leith, Marcus, Anna (& Crux for gear), Louise, Grant, Zak, Marnie (for drums), Brute Force, Cake Tin (and housemates), Dirty Shilohs and Serial Space for an awesome weekend!
